Our trip

Mount Shasta, California The happiest place on Earth (provided spending lots of money and standing in line for hours is what makes you happy). Still fun though... The cruise ship

Catalina Island Ensinada, Mexico It was Flag Day in Mexico the day we were there and we arrived just in time to watch this flag raising ceremony. Here the lads are holding a truly enormous flag.After lots of military higher ups arrived and some fuss was made they finally got to let go and raise the flag Look at the size of that thing.

The Whale watching trip where the whales kept away and dolphins were the highlight. Which is ok because dolphins a pretty great too.

There were about a dozen of them but they are fast so we only got a good picture of this one.

These guys were sleeping on the deck when we got back and apparently didn't like getting their picture taken.
He started barking and carrying on after this. It was very entertaining.

It was a great trip. The only low point was sunburn and vomiting on the whale watching trip (both me) which is pretty good considering five of us were together pretty much 24 hours a day for a week and that included 20 hours in the car each way.

Round Two

This week we had round of two of cold, snowy weather and round of two of a stomach virus thing for me. Thankfully both were short lived and things are back to normal today. Everyone is getting a bit tired of the winter weather and as we don't get the extreme heat that my sisters do we are kind of looking forward to sun and summer living. We've all been ill more than once the past few weeks. The kids had sore throats and colds, we all got a stomach bug and then as I mentioned I got it again. Hopefully everything is past now and we are all healthy as we are going on vacation next week. We have a four day Mexican Cruise planned and we will drive down to San Diego taking a couple of days and seeing some sights on the way. I'm so excited. None of us has been on a cruise and a short one like this is perfect to see how we like it. The only problem is no one has any warm weather clothes and its in the high 70s there at this time of year. Oh well, we'll have to go shopping. What a shame.

Groundhog Day

Phil says six more weeks of winter. This was confirmed by the thick layer of frost this morning and the fact that I still need to wear several layers to be warm. I'm not happy but Phil is so cute I'll let it go.

When we had the big freeze before Christmas we were concerned about the birds that were foraging around trying to find to some food in the frozen snow covered ground. So we bought a bird feeder. Like most good eating establishments things got off to a slow start and we didn't see many birds at first and the food in the feeder lasted a couple of weeks or so. But word spread in the bird community and good reviews gave us this site each morning
There are usually several more on the ground getting what these guys have knocked out. I can barely keep the thing full of food now. I love it. Simon hates it and often barks at them and the cats are transfixed as they spend most of the day in front of the door watching them. They don't go out so the birds are safe. At least from my cats. There is a big black cat that keeps sneaking under the fence. He hasn't been able to get any and usually I see him before he gets too close. Some larger birds have appeared recently that seem to keeping the smaller birds away. I'm not sure what to do about that. But for now I'll enjoy watching them from my desk each morning.

More flooding

We went out today and even after what we saw yesterday we were surprised to see how high the dyke's were

I had to take this picture from afar as they had just shut off downtown because the dyke's were about to break. Anyway, earlier we went to the dyke and saw this (usually fields and a road there)See that stop sign! There's also a Park and Ride under there. This is mainly farmland but its right on the edge of downtown.

Floods!

We had a really nice Christmas. Everyone was happy with their gifts, we had lots of great food and a really relaxing holiday from the hustle and bustle of normal life. The weather made things difficult up until about New Year. The snow and icy conditions made travelling a problem and we had no trash pickup for two weeks, amongst other inconveniences.

Now.....well, we are flooded. There are flood warnings for most of Western Washington. The whole region has been affected by the days and days of rain (with no end to the rain in sight) with flooding said to be the worst on record. Roads are being closed, thousands evacuated and the all the schools are closed too. All the mountain passes are closed because of the extreme weather and avalanche risks. We went for some groceries today and driving home we saw lots of flooded roads and houses surrounded by water. We have many rivers here and they are breaching their banks. Its hard to tell where the rivers are in the huge expanses of water. Even the smallest creeks are overflowing and causing damage. Tonight I took 13 year old to help his church Scout Troop sandbag downtown near one of the senior centres. As I drove past I saw buses being loaded with the poor seniors who are being evacuated to the High School. We are lucky as we are on high ground but half the town and most of the farms are on flat, low ground and if they aren't water logged yet they soon will be. So I count my blessings as I sit with a hot drink in my comfortable, warm, dry house.

*Meanwhile wildfires are causing problems in Colorado. What an amazing world we live in. It certainly isn't boring.